


Sweetheart, Bitter Heart

by orphan_account



Category: Historical RPF
Genre: Awesome Ladies Ficathon, Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-02
Updated: 2010-07-02
Packaged: 2017-10-10 08:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/97887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	Sweetheart, Bitter Heart

Their elders speak of the future with such surety and solemnity that hypothetical marital ties seem near-fact; Henry Percy will marry George Talbot's daughter, and Anne is ultimately bound for Ireland and an alliance with the Butlers.

"But does it have to be that way?" Anne asks him one day, between laughter-punctuated debates on literature. Her eyes are dark beneath her French hood and her voice may be soft, but there is nothing timid about her question.

Henry Percy considers how it would feel to escape his father's control, considers life beyond that of a mere dynastic pawn, considers how fascinating it would be to watch Anne's aspirations flourish.

He considers how it would be to wake up beside her every day.

*

She knows they're giggling and snickering about her, these gossip addicted courtiers. They're talking about how that charming upstart, Anne Boleyn, is leading the gullible Henry Percy astray. He might even marry her.

Being thought of as inherently inferior will always gall her, but she likes being noticed, and somehow she has come to appreciate (and, yes, love), Henry in all his stubborn genuine nature.

Moreover, she believes in herself, and the strength of her convictions.

*

After he finishes scolding Henry Percy, there is something alarmingly close to pity behind Cardinal Wolsey's eyes.

"You may love anyone you wish, but your marriage has always been a matter of state."

*

_This is the story that history tells:_

Anne Boleyn is preternaturally cold and calculated, ice and ambition taking the place of blood in her veins.

Anne Boleyn arrived in the Tudor court, more French than the French, and proceeded to dance all over the hearts of her admirers.

Anne Boleyn was not capable of affection, obviously, and when she is sent back to Hever she already has her sights set on another husband. She does not take the barest fraction of time to mourn lost love.

Anne Boleyn was never a woman with a broken heart. It would quite spoil the agreed-upon narrative.

*

Henry Percy, meanwhile, continually sends letters that he knows, as he sets ink to paper, will be mislaid, torn up, burned.

*

It's a ghost now, an echo of the past, but Anne cannot hide her smile when she hears the tale of Henry Percy arresting Cardinal Wolsey.


End file.
